IT WAS probably fitting that Manchester United should virtually make certain of the championship at a ground that takes advertising from Poolies Pies and Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls. The coronation could come on Saturday when Arsenal, battered and beleaguered after a harrowing denouement to their own season, return to Old Trafford.
But, when the story comes to be told of the 2008-09 campaign, it will be the manner in which Alex Ferguson’s men have handled the smaller clubs that will be remembered as the defining reason why they are on the brink of equalling Liverpool’s haul of 18 titles.
Ferguson used to say that it was the games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool that decided which colour ribbons adorned that 18lb hunk of silverware at the end of each season, but this year the opposite has been the case. United’s record against their three major rivals is moderate at best, with three defeats and only four points from five games, but their victory at Wigan last night has maintained a remarkable record of beating every team bar one, home and away, below eighth position in the league.
Of 69 points available against those 12 sides – in descending order, West Ham United, Manchester City, Wigan Athletic, Stoke City, Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Portsmouth, Sunderland, Newcastle United, Hull City, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion – United have taken 67. The one blemish was a 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle on the opening weekend of the season.
On Sunday week few would bet against them making it 70 out of 72 when they finish their programme at freefalling Hull City.
United, however, have not recorded a single victory in their away games against the seven teams directly behind them, taking four points out of 21 and scoring only four goals in the process. They have also taken 10 points fewer than Liverpool in terms of matches between the top four clubs; Rafael Benitez’s team have an immaculate record against United and Chelsea, and drew twice with Arsenal, to accumulate 14 points from six games.
Chelsea, like United, have struggled in their top-of-the-table clashes, with only four points from six games, whereas Arsenal have managed eight points out of 15 going into the game at Old Trafford.
Liverpool’s advantage has been lost, however, by their inferior record against the bottom 12, dropping 13 points against Middlesbrough, Hull, Stoke (twice), Wigan and Manchester City.
It has been a lesson, in other words, in the importance of winning the bread-and-butter matches, something Ferguson recognised himself when he was asked to nominate United’s most important game of the season. The man who stands on the brink of an 11th title in 16 years elected the 1-0 win at Stoke on St Stephen’s Day, just a few days after United had returned from winning the World Club Cup in Tokyo.
It is United’s consistency in those kind of games that has established them in a position to reach 92 points this season, eclipsing their previous best of 91 from the 1999-2000 campaign, and prompted the Premier League to put plans in place for the trophy to be presented, if necessary, after the Arsenal game.
A curiosity of Ferguson’s previous 10 titles is that only once – against Tottenham Hotspur on the last day of the treble-winning 1998-99 season – was the championship confirmed on their ground, and for it to happen against Arsenal would make it particularly sweet for Ferguson when he remembers that day in 2002 when Arsene Wenger’s team won the league at Old Trafford courtesy of a Sylvain Wiltord goal.
Ferguson described it as being outside a house, pressed up against the windows, watching everyone having a party inside.
Guardian Service
